Cheers to the E.U.

last updated 8 January 2015

Dublin

Irish voters this week gave the European Union permission to expand eastward to include former Soviet-bloc nations. Two years ago, the other 14 E.U. nations approved a treaty that would allow it to admit Eastern European nations such as Poland, Latvia, and Hungary. Due to a quirk in its constitution, Ireland was the only European nation that required a popular vote to approve the agreement. The Irish defeated the treaty in a desultory, low-turnout vote last year, embarrassing the government. So this year the prime minister spearheaded a major pro-treaty campaign, and it won in a landslide. “The Irish people just made about 100 million friends in Central and Eastern Europe,” said one Latvian diplomat. Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller raised a pint of Guinness and sang, “I love you, Ireland!”